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Workers amid Covid-19 in Brazil: flexibility, precarious work and international mobilization

Abstract

The article deals with delivery workers on digital platforms in Brazil against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic that started in 2020. We argue that the pandemic crisis has exacerbated recent trends in work organization and propose an interpretive framework that emphasizes the ongoing transformations in the spheres of production and labor regulation, with an emphasis on employment and labor relations in digital platforms operating under the logic of “work on demand”. From this perspective, we present the results of a survey conducted with delivery workers in different states of the country during the national strike of the category, in July 2020, which allows us to draw a profile of workers in the sector. Finally, we discuss emerging forms of collective organization among these workers, in particular international articulations established outside the traditional structures of trade union representation.

Keywords
labor; digital platforms; Covid-19; precarious work; uberization

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